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Restoration 2010-2011
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The Comet project has taken a number of significant steps forward for 2011.
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Fuselage and Fairings
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Progress with the fuselage is down to volunteers Mike Larimore and Richard Cook who have now completed the upper and lower fuselage tank covers.
These are “cold moulded” wooden fairings that enclose the main fuel tanks and give the fuselage its distinctive shape. Their traditional construction
involved the overlaying of thin wooden strips in two mutually perpendicular layers. Owing to the compound curvature required to shape the fairings
each strip has had to be individually fitted and then glued into position. The fairings are detachable from the fuselage structure bolted along their
edges into captive nuts. Nothing in the design is a straight line so a considerable degree of care and patience has been necessary in learning traditional
techniques more akin to boats than aircraft! The team is well pleased with the result.
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Rebuilt Tail Plane
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George Armstrong has been on hand to provide technical data from the original drawings many of which have had to be redetailed. Thoughts now turn towards
the fitting of the fuselage controls. Most of these parts have been complete for some time and are now awaiting final fitting for good.
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Rebuilt Tail Plane
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Main Spars
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To prepare spruce strips to be laminated into the wing spars it is necessary to “convert” the baulks the project bought some time ago.
Typically these are 7, 8 and 9 inches by 4 and 5inches in lengths varying from 25 ft to 37 ft and not the sort of thing you would want to drop!
Several persons are needed to manhandle each one. It had been the intention to transport the baulks to a local timber yard and beg assistance as best we could.
However owing to the initiative of Colin Cheese a suitable large bandsaw was located, inspected and purchased. This is no ordinary machine.
It is a 1940’s British Stenner machine that stands over 9 ft tall and weighs over a ton. The blades (made to order) are 17 ft long. The machine is solid cast
iron and allows the precise machining of the baulks we have in stock. Its size and weight and the lengths we need to cut meant that we could not accommodate
it in our Comet workshop. Consequently it is installed in Airspeed’s hangar a short distance away. We are indebted to Ian Harrison of LAA (Sywell Rally)
fame who provided the collection and transportation to Derby. Colin Cheese provided a dust extraction machine. Machining has already started and we are well
pleased with the result. Coupled with our other woodworking machines (another planer/thicknesser has been purchased – eBay is a wonderful thing!) the bandsaw
allows all of the woodworking operations to be conducted in-house at Derby Airfield. This is a significant step forward for the project. Elevator spars have
been prepared. A special routing jig has been made to cut the necessary spar cut outs. Wood is being inspected, tested and “released” for aircraft use by
Airspeed Aviation under its extensive EASA approval. Airspeed is of course the host of the project and provides most of the monthly outgoings for parts,
materials and consumables.
A 32 ft flat bench has been assembled in the workshop to allow the wing spars to be laminated. Construction of this spar table involved the laser levelling
of the working surface using professional surveying equipment. The surface is 2ins thick MDF supported on a steel structure. Its stability will be checked
from time to time.
George Armstrong has been very busy preparing the drawings necessary for the machining of the timber baulks already held in stock. He has prepared a
series of intricate schemes that will help to minimise wastage.
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British Stenner Bandsaw
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